So, a quick update before i go to bed (so i can wake up 4 hrs later to go to class)...

I had a shitload of schoolwork to do today, but I think I'm getting better at cutting the corners that I can cut (e.g. reading the 1st sentence of every paragraph in a useless article to get the "idea" but not to waste my "time").

I spent a lot of time today talking to professors - mostly about my academic plan and career goals, but also just a lot of chit-chat. I went in before lunch to talk to Prof. Lampton who's the guy everyone in the US govt turns to for China issues. Then at the end of the day, I went in to talk to Prof. Thurston, the author of the famous book, "The Private Life of Chairman Mao". I have cool teachers :). Besides having really cool credentials, they're really cool people.

After I got home, Amy and I had "serious talking" for a bit, but then got really hungry, and went out to Red, Hot & Blue out across the river to eat yum yum BBQ. Well, the ribs were yum yum, but the brisket was yuk yuk. Only then, after I came home, was I able to dive head-first into my school work. Somewhere along the way (sometime after Elimidate and Blind-Date), she started drawing little happy faces on the bottoms of my toes (I had my feet proped up on the couch arm next to where she was sitting), and then started talking to me via my 10 new ambasadors. Later on, I had to reciprocate by drawing 10 cuter faces on her toes. Then we had a serious discussion (I think it was about the US bombing Iraq) via our toes. We're wierd.

I don't know who's been long awaiting this update, but I haven't really written in here in about a month (since I got back from SF), so here it goes:

DC
DC on the whole has been very pleasant and has been much more interesting and fun that I had originally expected. I think I was originally biased against living here, because it wasn't on my "top places to live" list - i.e. SF, Boston, etc. I'm living on 16th and Q in the Dupont circle area. It's 3 blocks from school, 6 blocks from Amy's work, and very close to a whole bunch of restauraunts, stores, bars, clubs, and the like. It really is one of the most central places to live in DC. Amy and I have been doing a bit of exploring. We now have our favorite local Chinese restauraunt (in Chinatown - this small family owned hole-in-the-wall), our favorite coffee/jazz club, and our jogging route. We've been all around the suburbs, visited 3 targets, 1 walmart, and 1 Costco - I guess the suburban in you never dies :). One weekend we went hiking with our friend John (Amy's friend's old roommate who we met) to Great Falls, which is, as written in my guidebook "the Niagra Falls and Grand Canyon of Virginia". Niagra Falls and Grand Canyon it is not. However it was a great hike - a nice day, pleasant scenary, within 20 minutes of the city, and has rock climbing to boot. Last weekend, we did the nature thing again and went kayaking on the Potomic.

Amy
Things with Amy are generally really good. We've had some relationship growing pains, and some moments that had me scared, but I think we're going really strong. The big news for her is that she now has a job! It's only an admin position, but it's with a small but very good architecture firm with some aparently really talented and well connected architects. For example, the big boss dude used to room with the current Dean of Columbia School of Architecture, and is good friends with the current Dean of Yale's School of Architecture. The job is really more like an internship, but that pays. She has to do the busywork, but then she also gets the exposure to the business and art, gets to acquire skills, and is building important relationships. All in all, I don't think she could have done any better. Yay Amy!

School
Ahh... School - the thing that's kept me from updating this thing. School is extremely busy. I had thought, coming into this, that having been through Sapient, that I would much more be able to manage my time and work more effectively than back in undergrad. However, I've been extrememly bogged down, just barely finishing work for certain classes, cutting major corners for others, and staight out neglecting others. One problem is that I never took that many reading classes back in undergrad, so haven't really been used to dealing with massive amounts of reading, so this is a new form of "work" that I haven't dealt with much before. The other thing is that I've been trying to manage my time much like when I was working - keeping weekends and nights school-work-free. That hasn't been too successful, but I've been stubborn to capitulate. I'll just have to adapt better. Academically, though, I've been really happy. The courses are really interesting and relevant, and I've just put the finishing touches on my overall academic plan. I'm pretty excited about it, and excited for what comes after school. Socially, school's been a mixed bag. I'm feeling a bit disconnected and disassociated with the community. I've made a couple of pretty good friends, but it's mostly been in the context of classes. I think it's a time issue (again) - I've been extremely pre-occupied with all the crap that's hit me since I moved to DC (moving in, car wrech, going to court, getting my car stolen), and also trying to balance school time with home time. All in all, though, I'm okay with it. I think the deeper friendships and relationships will come eventually. So - two thumbs up with school.

Honda
As some of you may remember, on Aug 12th, I was changing lanes at a stoplight, and got wacked by a car, almost totaling my poor little Honda. Guess what. It's still in the shop. Those idiots kept on dragging their feet, forgetting this part and that part. Amy and I think that they originally thought the car was a total loss and started dismantling it, and had to put it back together when they found out the insurance company wanted it fixed instead. I finally went to pick it up this weekend, but found out that the alignment was off and that the wipers didn't work. It's back in the shop now and I haven't heard from them yet. On the plus side, they gave me a car rental for free, so I'm not really all that concerned.

Stolen Truck
Some of you may also remember that the rental truck I had when I got back form SF was stolen the 2nd day I had it. Well, the big news is that it was found. Aparently the police had towed it, but then lost record of it. It finally showed up. Idiots.

Reckless Driving
When I got into my car wreck, one small thing that has turned out to be a huge thing, is that the cop attending the accident wrote me a citation for reckless driving. He claimed, at the time, that according to Virginia State law, whenever there's an accident the cop is obligated to write out a reckless driving citation. He reassured me that it wasn't serious, and that it wouldn't amount to anything. First of all, I just found out that that is a big fat lie. He didn't have to write jack squat. Second, I also recently found out that a reckless driving citation is a Class 1 misdemeanor and carries up to a 1 year prison term. Trivial my ass. Furthermore, when I showed up on Friday for my court showing, the procecutor seemed determined to kick my ass. I got a continuence on my case, and now I'm considering getting a lawyer. They have no case on the reckless driving, because they have to prove malicious intent, and it'll probably be amended to improper driving, but it still pisses the crap out of me, and scares me a bit.

Anyways, that's my life in a nutshell for now. G'night all.
I was IM'ing Amy this morning and discovered this:
"in realtiy, i don't bathe
i just turn the water on" which she said at 10:34 AM!

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